Is there any way to get rid of the bar at the bottom? Fullscreen

MantisToboggan

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The bar at the bottom only has 3 buttons, but it takes up some good screen space IMO. Is there any way to make this slide down when not in use?


I wish they made it like the Samsung Galaxy S3 and put the 3 buttons off the screen altogether.
 
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KitN

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+1

I have to agree on this point. Its always there taking up screen real estate. It unnecessary. The should be an option for Auto-hide and a simp,e tap of the screen would bring it back up.

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natehoy

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Re: Is there any way to get rid of the bar at the bottom? Fullsc

If there is, I haven't found it, but +1 vote for that feature. Or at least a way to force them up to the sides rather than taking up a band all the way across the wide edge when in landscape. When I want to fullscreen a video, I want it to take up the full screen, darn it!

Minor quibble, but it should also be a minor fix, I'd think.
 

MantisToboggan

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Re: Is there any way to get rid of the bar at the bottom? Fullsc

Yup, that's what I was thinking.

Even on my desktop computer with a big screen (iMac) I still have the menubar autohide so that I can use that screen space. It makes 10 times more sense to do it on a 7" screen where screen real estate is at a premium. You can get to the menu by sliding your finger upwards, just like with the top notification menu.
 

natehoy

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Re: Is there any way to get rid of the bar at the bottom? Fullsc

Apparently there was a way implemented in Honeycomb (and therefore it exists in ICS and JellyBean) to have apps request that the home/navigation buttons go away by turning on a flag called SYSTEM_UI_FLAG_HIDE_NAVIGATION.

I'll have to see if I can find another video player that supports that function. MX Player, for all its functionality, apparently does not.
 

fabster530

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Actually there is in Roms like cm9 will let you make them smaller add more and have a switch to completely take them off and put them back whenever you want

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JustinMueller8810

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The bar at the bottom only has 3 buttons, but it takes up some good screen space IMO. Is there any way to make this slide down when not in use?


I wish they made it like the Samsung Galaxy S3 and put the 3 buttons off the screen altogether.

Wouldn't that screw with the aspect ratio of the screen?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums
 

MantisToboggan

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That doesn't take up as much space and it actually gives you information.

From what I remember, it disappears during video playback, right?

I would personally like to optimize all the space on the screen since the 7" display is a bit small. I don't see how having it as an option could hurt...?
 

kilen71

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Nova Launcher give you that option. Plus you can set it to have up to 12 Icons/Folders there, in addition to the dock itself scrolling side to side independent of the home screen. Good Stuff!
 

MJKearney

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Nova Launcher give you that option. Plus you can set it to have up to 12 Icons/Folders there, in addition to the dock itself scrolling side to side independent of the home screen. Good Stuff!
I thought the same thing when I first read this, but they're talking about the 3 buttons on the bottom - the back, home, and app switcher buttons. That space is always reserved for those buttons, though in some full screen apps, they will disappear. However, in that case the space is still unused.

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MJKearney

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I wonder... If those 3 buttons were placed below the screen and on the bezel, would people complain that that space was now being wasted by those 3 buttons, instead of being used as part of the screen? :confused:;)

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MantisToboggan

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I wonder... If those 3 buttons were placed below the screen and on the bezel, would people complain that that space was now being wasted by those 3 buttons, instead of being used as part of the screen? :confused:;)

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I don't think so, as long as the screen was still the 7" size that the specs state.
 

Ravynmagi

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If you use the build.prop mod to change the DPI down to 160, then you get the tablet UI that combines the soft buttons and menu bar together and it saves some space and in some apps completely goes away instead of just dimming.

Unfortunately the downside to the 160 DPI lots of things are smaller and some text doesn't look as clear.

I like how the Kindle Fire HD does it though, where the soft keys minimize to a tiny little tab on the edge of the screen and you just swipe it up to get to the buttons.
 

Ernst Fried

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Worse than wasting Dollars you may not want investing in 10" displays instead of 7", if you miss the "space" tab when typing, you may discard your written Text...
I think that Android UI is not very professional.
 

retsaw

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Any app that happens to cause you to lose the text you have written if you accidentally hit one of the buttons at the bottom is badly designed. I don't think it equates to unprofessional design on the part of Android itself.

I use GMC Gesture Control (requires root) and it has on option to get rid of those buttons in the paid version, though you do lose the status bar at the top as well since it just kills the process that is responsible for the buttons and the same process is responsible for the status bar at the top. It isn't a perfect solution, but it's good enough for when they are annoying me or I just need the extra space. But I find GMC Gesture Control is worth the money just to have custom gestures, using a four finger swipe to directly switch between recent apps is really nice.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums